Ruling on boy’s threat upsets Fla. community

MACCLENNY, Fla. — Anxieties multiplied quickly across Baker County, a mostly rural community of 28,000 in northern Florida, when news spread that a 15-year-old had planned a massacre at the county’s only high school.

When the sophomore shared his six-page “School Shooting Plan” with a classmate in early September, it set in motion what authorities called a textbook response to averting another school shooting like the one in Parkland that killed 14 students and three school staffers last year.

Within minutes, the student was in custody. By most accounts, parents felt reassured by the swift action of school officials and law enforcement.

But unease resurfaced last month when a judge dismissed seconddegree felony charges against the boy and released him back into the community.

After the Parkland shooting, Florida lawmakers acted quickly to beef up security and improve safety across the state’s 4,300 public schools. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act widened the authority of schools and law enforcement to act against any threat to campus safety.

To authorities and school officials, one provision in the law seemed clear: Anyone who “makes, posts, or transmits” a threat of mass shooting “in any manner that would allow another person to view the threat” has committed a crime.

Judge Gloria R. Walker dismissed the case because she said prosecutors could not prove the threat was transmitted as described in the law.

Walker didn’t return calls requesting comment.

Members of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission expressed exasperation last month when Baker County Sheriff ’s Maj. Randy Crews described the incident.

That was the first time many in the county heard of the judge’s decision, and it spawned immediate outrage.

The boy’s plan described killing teachers and fellow students in chilling detail. To maximize the carnage, he’d deploy an arsenal of knives and guns at a high-traffic venue.

Investigators said the teen acknowledged writing the plan but denied any intention of carrying it out.

The Stoneman Douglas commission has called for greater state funding for mental health programs for children and wants judges to offer mental health services to children who get into trouble with the law.

That’s what folks across Baker County say should have happened.

The Rev. Tommy Richardson, who serves as the chaplain for the sheriff ’s department, said his community is a place of forgiveness.

Baker County Schools Superintendent Sherrie Raulerson declined to discuss the case but reassured residents that protocols are in place to keep students safe.

Still, concerns linger.

When the school intercom blared a code yellow a few weeks ago, nerves remained frayed until school officials declared it a false alarm.